KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Tonight, Kalamazoo city commissioners will be asked to tap into a special source of COVID-19 funding, as they take their first steps to create a new neighborhood in Milwood.
The goal is to demolish the former state Health and Human Services Building at 322 Stockbridge to make room for a new affordable housing project, stewarded by the city, on the 15-acre parcel.
The money comes from a state Land Bank grant, using federal ARPA dollars to remove blighted properties. The price tag to tear the building down will be $255,000.
City Manager Jim Ritsema says it means they won’t need to take it out of city funds.
They had planned to begin the demolition earlier this summer, but compliance problems with the paperwork forced changes to the contracts, which will be up for approval tonight.
Not in milwood
This Special Source of Covid-19 Funding. Would that happen to be the Federal Funds given to the County and City of Kalamazoo to be distributed to the essential workers that struggled though those times that never received an inflated unemployment check or any other type of financial assistance? Such as the Water and Streets Divisions of the City of Kalamazoo?